Skywatchers will be treated with the rare five-planet conjunction as Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn line up across the predawn sky in their orbital order from the Sun. The best time to see this will be on June 24 just before the sunrise, as confirmed by Sky&Telescope. However, before that spectacular event, the Moon will have its own show.
Earth's natural satellite will join Saturn on Saturday, June 18, at around 1 AM local time as the waning gibbous moon begins its monthly trip past morning planets.
Moon Approaches Saturn on Predawn Sky
Geophysicist Chris Vaughan, an amateur astronomer that works with SkySafari Software, who oversees the Night Sky calendar of Space.com, wrote that the moon would be shining a generous palm's width at Saturn's lower right.
According to skywatching website InTheSky.org, the duo will be too far apart to fit into the field of view of a telescope but they will be visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars.
Since the celestial event will happen in the early hours of Saturday morning, the Moon and Saturn will be joined by a procession of bright early risers like Jupiter and Mars, which can be seen to their left. Meanwhile, Mercury and Venus will also join the picture shortly before sunrise, Space.com reported.
However, the exact time of the event could vary depending on the location. Experts recommend using a skywatching app like SkySafari or software, such as Starry Night, to confirm the best time in a specific area to see the event.
The Moon will continue to journey past the morning planets throughout June. After meeting Saturn on June 18, it will continue traveling to Jupiter on June 21, then Mars on June 22, and Venus on June 26. The Moon will wrap up its planetary tour on June 27 when the crescent passes by Mercury.
Moon Phases Explained
The angle between the Sun, Earth and Moon changes as the latter orbits around the planet, and Earth orbits around the Sun. According to the online Almanac, it results in the changes in the amount of sunlight that reflects off the Moon and travels to Earth. Take note that the Moon relies on the Sun to reflect light as it does not have its own light.
As viewed from Earth, the Moon's disk changes from being all dark to all light and then all dark again. The time it takes to undergo these changes is called the lunar cycle. Others also called it lunation, lunar month, or synodic month.
The length of the lunar cycle can slightly vary each month. On average, each lunar cycle is about 29.53059 days or when rounded off it is equivalent to 30 days or a whole month.
To easily describe the Moon phases, astronomers have broken this cycle into four: New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Last Quarter. They also identified some secondary Moon phases, namely the Waxing Crescent, Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous, and Waning Crescent.
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